Fated Meeting
by shadowrider97
Summary: Two of the Next Avengers travel back in time chasing a new super villain. What will happen when the Avengers think that they are the criminals? Sequel to More than Five and my first attempt at a crossover
1. the Portal

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 1: the Portal

It was dark. The forest cast shadows on the already black world, tall pines standing tall deep within the mountains while mist swirled along the ground like happy dogs. The only light came from the small facility located on the cliffside. It had the feel of a military base with its square, brick buildings that squatted in the hard gravel inside of the electric barbed wire fence. Guards roamed the grounds armed with machine guns while bright searchlights scanned the forest outside. Invisible to all was the duo concealed at the edge of the tree line.

Their features were obscured by the full masks they wore, firm black cloth with lenses for eyes. Black leather clothing covered their bodies, alongside boots and gloves. One of them had a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back. The other had a pair of large, high-powered pistoles holstered on either thigh.

They sat there, lazily studying the grounds and memorizing the patterns of the guards and lights. "Are we just about ready?" Asked the pistol wielder quietly.

"Almost," replied a voice on the communicator that sat snuggly on both of their left ears. It sounded as though it came from an older man. "Give my another minute to kill the electricity. As soon as that's done, advance through the fence."

"Roger."

The pair sat still once more before the archer spoke. "Sooo... Got any plans for Saturday night?"

The gunman glanced at his partner. "Not really. What about you?"

"X and I are gonna hit the movies. Then... We'll just have to see."

"We wouldn't have to if I was out there," grumbled a feminine voice over the com.

"Sorry X, but this mission requires stealth. You aren't exactly very subtle," replied the archer.

"You wont want me to be very subtle Saturday night, now will you?" X purred.

"Definitely not," he agreed.

"Okay, I just learned a heck of a lot more about your life than I EVER wanted to," commented the gunman.

Before the archer could reply, the old man returned. "Systems are down. Proceed with the mission. And X, we need to have a talk."

The pair moved forward silently, the gunman reaching into a pocket to reveal a small cylinder, roughly the size of a stick of Chapstick. Pressing a button, the ended opened and a red laser about and inch long lit up. Moving quickly, the gunman severed a small hole in the fence, just large enough for a person to pass through. Deactivating the laser, the gunman slipped through the fence and moved behind a building, the archer right an his heels. The pair quickly created space between them for more ease of movement.

They waited for some sign that they had been detected, but none came. The gunman glanced at the archer and received a nod. He peered around the corner to assure himself that the small yard of gravel dividing the two buildings, the one he hid behind and the one he was moving to, was empty. Sprinting forward, he crossed the ground and vanished into cover behind some crates. He let his eyes roam before finally pulling out his weapons, each covered by a silencer.

The archer, who had stayed back to deal with any guards that happened to catch his partner in his movement, quietly waited for this signal to advance. He watched as a hand appeared from the shadows, seemingly floating in midair, and waved him forward. He ran across the open ground, painfully aware of the lack of cover. Just as he was nearing the end of his move, he heard a sound to his right. He looked over just in time to see a man step out of a door, grumbling about his lack of luck at poker. The man's eyes widened just as a faint click sounded. His body shuddered before he collapsed. The archer moved quickly, catching the man's body before it hit the ground. Slinging him over his shoulder, the archer silently closed the door and continued onwards.

"Hide the body under that truck," the gunman commanded. He could all but feel the archer's accusing glare on his back. "What? I used stun rounds. He'll just be out for a few hours."

The archer rolled his eyes as he moved the man's unconscious form into hiding. Creeping around the crates, the gunman slowly opened the door and peered inside. The door opened into a small hallway with a metal stairway leading upward directly on the other side of the hall. Signaling to the archer to follow, the gunman moved up the stairs. At the top was yet another door which the pair slipped through.

They emerged onto a catwalk hanging above an old hanger. It appeared to be an old airplane hanger, a massive space with a concrete floor. In the center was a massive cylinder on its side like some kind of tunnel. Two bars connected to the circular interior walls stretched all the way down its length, swaying slightly as they sluggishly rotated around the space on opposite sides of each other. Four pillars stood tall around it, two in front and two in back, connecting to what would be edges if it were a rectangle. Directly in front of the machine was a small pillar, about the size of a nightstand. A group of scientists moved around it, fiddling with parts as they worded on the machine. Armed guards stood at the doors and periodically along the walls, totaling fourteen. Standing tall in the center of it all was large man in a dark, scaly uniform augmented with black metal. Criss-crossing across his back was assault rifle and a large sword, the butt and hilt extended over his left and right shoulder respectively. A dark face mask covered his face, which was framed by long, dark, greasy hair.

"What are we looking at here old man?" murmured the archer into the com.

"I'm not entirely sure," replied the voice. "The report said that someone was building a doomsday device, but that's not like any device I've ever seen."

"So we have no idea what we're dealing with."

"Pretty much." The pair gave a quiet sigh before returning to their inspection.

"Doctor Gordon!" Yelled the masked man in a deep baritone with only the faintest Russian accent. One of the scientists, a short, bald man with glasses that amplified his eyes to humorous level, moved towards him. "How soon until we can begin?"

"Momentarily, sir. Just a quick last-minute look over and we can begin," replied the short man a small voice.

"Excellent. With this, the world will fall before me!"

The two above glanced at each other. Whatever was going on at this place definitely wasn't good.

"We are ready," informed the doctor. The man gave a quick nod to him. The scientist opened a case which sat nearby and lifted up a small glass container. Inside the glass object was a glowing blue cube which he placed on the small pillar. Small braces appear, locking the object in place.

"My god, that's the Tesseract!" exclaimed the voice over the com. "That's supposed to be on Asgard! Where the Hell did they get it?!"

"What's wrong old man?" Asked the archer.

"They have a very powerful artifact that's meant to be back on Asgard with Thor. This is no longer a sneak and smash mission, it's a universal crisis! I'm authorizing lethal force! Get down there now!"

The pair hesitated as blue energy began being sucked down the stand from the cube and into the four surrounding pillars. The pillars then sent the energy into the cylinder. The twin bars suddenly began to rotate, faster and faster as the blue energy flowed out and swirled in the tube, creating a massive blue space that hummed with energy.

"The space-time vortex is stabilizing!" Exclaimed Gordon as he stared at a monitor. "Sixty seconds until the passageway opens!"

He was suddenly interrupted as shouts of pain emerged from the guards. All eyes turned as three of the fifteen total armed men collapsed, one from an arrow while the others grasped at bullet wounds. The leader moved out of the way as yet another arrow appeared in the ground where he'd been standing. He swung his gaze towards the pair as they appeared atop the catwalk, discarding their masks to reveal young faces, maybe eighteen nor nineteen, one with pale white hair and black eyes, the other with deep red hair and blue eyes. The redhead, armed with twin large pistols, simply hopped off the catwalk and onto the ground. The white haired archer remain, not as willing to hand over the high ground.

"The Avengers," he growled as the redhead approached. "So this is what passes for Earth's Mightiest Heroes these days? THIS is what passes for Captain America? Pathetic."

"That's what they all say, up until they lose consciousness that is," replied James Rogers, A.K.A.: Captain America, as he fired at the man. He blinked in surprise as the man dodged every bullet with uncanny speed before swinging his fist towards the boy's face. James barely pulled back in time to avoid the blow. Swinging his leg around, he tried to kick the masked man in his side, but his blow stuck only air. James leapt back to avoid another blow before beginning to circle his foe warily.

"Who are you?" He asked as he narrowed his eyes.

James could have sworn he was grinning behind his mask. "I suppose if you're Captain America, then I would be the Red Skull, but that title is taken and I suppose I just have a little more originality than you. How about the Black Skull? Much better. What do you think?"

The only response was as James pulled the trigger and moved forward. Once again, Black Skull moved around the bullet before launching a right jab at James's ribs, only to be diverted as James moved his left hand to push it aside. Flowing through the movement flawlessly, James swung his right arm up to try and club the villain with his pistol. Skull caught James's wrist and brought his knee up to try and strike the boy's thigh, but was once again stopped by the his hand. Simultaneously, the two pushed off each other to put distance between them, both rolling on the ground before landing in a crouch.

"Ten seconds until the pathway opens!" Called Gordon who had, admirably, continued working, despite the circumstances.

"Hey Hawkeye, I could use a hand!" Called James as he prepared to charge the Skull again.

"Give me a minute, I'm a little busy!" Replied Francis Barton, A.K.A.:Hawkeye, as he swung his bow into yet another guard's face to knock him unconscious. _How does it always work out this way? James gets the big guy while the rest of us handle the riffraff. _He sighed as he pulled out an arrow with an egg shaped device on the end. Swinging it around, he rammed it into the side of a guard and watched as the stun arrow caused the man to convulse before falling to the ground. Whipping around, the loaded the arrow onto his bow and fired it into the chest of another guard.

"The tunnel has stabilized! The pathway is open!" Yelled Gordon as the Skull shoved both of James's arms out of the way and proceeded to Spartan kick the boy's exposed chest, rocketing him across the floor.

"Grab the cube! We're getting out of here!" He yelled as he ran towards the portal and the doctor who was placing the Tesseract back inside its container. The Skull grabbed onto the doctor and leapt into the swirling mass of blue energy, vanishing as he did so.

"Hawkeye!" Yelled James as he sprinted forward.

"Right behind you!" Came the reply.

"Wait!" They heard over the com. "It's too dangerous! Don't go in there! Don't-"

Tony Stark, A.K.A.:Iron Man, was cut off as the pair vanished through the vortex.


	2. Battle in the street

Chapter two: Battle in the Streets

At first, all they saw was blue. Blue clouds of energy flickering with blue lightning surrounded them, pulling them along. They also felt immense pain, like they were being torn apart into a billion itty-bitty pieces and then reassembled someplace else. Just as they were reassembled, they were struck by color.

All of the blue cleared away and suddenly they were standing in a street. Cars flowed around them like blood in veins, while skyscrapers rose around them like great walls. People gawked at them and the portal of blue energy that floated just above the ground behind them. Standing a distance away was the Black Skull as he regarded them quietly.

"You might want to move," he informed them calmly. "Without the Tesseract providing a constant source of power the tunnel with collapse in a few seconds, taking the machine with it." As if in response to his words, the blue energy suddenly seemed to suck itself inwards, pulling at its edges. Just before it vanished completely, bits of metal suddenly shot from it like cannon fire, smoking and boiling. James and Francis dove to the ground to avoid them.

"I told you," said the Skull with a chuckle. "I must admit, I never expected the two of you to follow me through the portal. The new Captain America and Hawkeye are unexpectedly persistent. Oh well." With that, he pulled his rifle from his back and opened fire.

The pair dove to the side to get behind a pair of cars just as the places they had been standing in before erupted with rubble as bullets tore through the concrete. They grimly listened as the civilians screamed and tried to flee the scene.

"Getting hit with that thing won't be pretty," commented Hawkeye dryly as he eyed the devastation caused by the gun. "That's definitely not your everyday assault rifle. It's got WAY too much power behind it."

"Yeah well, my guns aren't ordinary either," replied James as he swung around and pulled the trigger. The Black Skull rolled away as the bullet shot passed. As he rose, the man yanked a grenade from his pocket and tossed it towards the the pair. Their eyes widened as it burst, tearing apart the road.

James found himself on his back, his entire body throbbing in pain. Through blurred vision he watched Gordon pull up in a, most likely stolen, car. The Skull quickly stepped into the passenger seat and called out the window as the duo drove away.

"I'll leave the clean-up to you. Don't worry, I'm sure... HELP will arrive soon." With that, they vanished around the corner, leaving James and Francis to stagger to their feet.

"Okay, that hurt," muttered the archer. "Make a note: grenades are not nice." Suddenly, they heard crying. The pair spun around to see a car that had been upturned by the blast. Crouched beneath it was a small girl, maybe five years old. Tears streamed down her face as she cowered beneath the metal.

"I'm s-stuck! I-I can't get out! I-I'm s-sc-scared!"

"Don't worry!" Called James as they rushed towards her. "We're going to get you out of there. Just stay calm." He crouched to reach beneath the vehicle. Straining, he slowly stood, lifting the car above the ground. Moving fast, Hawkeye reached under to loope his hands under the girl's arms and drag her out to safety.

"I've got her," the archer informed his companion. The new Captain slowly let the car fall to the ground while the child sobbed quietly into his companion's shoulder. "It's alright, we're going to get you home, don't worry. What's your name?"

"S-Sarah." The two boys smiled softly at her.

"I'm Francis, and this is my friend James. Do you know where your mommy is?" She shook her head. "Well then, we'll just have to find her now won't we?"

"Put the kid down and put your hands in the air," commanded a voice. The boys turned around to see two people standing with their weapons locked on them.

The first was a man with dirty-blonde hair and goggles over his blue eyes. He wore a black sleeveless top with bracers on either forearm. Baggy, dark camo pants were tucked into a pair of black combat boots. In his hands was a bow.

The second was a green eyed woman with just past shoulder-length bright red hair. She wore a skintight black jumpsuit, open at the top to reveal just enough cleavage to be distracting. Hanging from her waist was a utility belt, and she had strange golden devices wrapped around each wrist. In her hands was a pair of pistols.

"You've got it wrong! We're the good guys!" Yelled James.

He scoffed. "Oh yeah, you expect me to believe that little girl did all of of this-" He somehow made a gesture to the surrounding area while keeping his arrow trained on them, "-instead of the two armed guys that obviously know their way around a fight? Give me a break!"

For the first time, the two took the time to survey the area. It was obvious that the Black Skull didn't like doing anything halfway- all of his gear went WAY overboard. The place the grenade landed in was now a large, smoldering crater. Cracks spread out from it like fault lines all over the road. Cars were knocked onto their sides, some flipped completely over, like the one Sarah had been found under. Any windows within thirty yards of the blast had been completely shattered. Several walls nearby were cracked and crumbling. The pieces that had flown through the portal were scattered around, still smoking and adding to the overall feeling of devastation. When the newcomers had arrived, the only people in the ruin were an obviously harmless little girl and two armed eighteen year olds.

The culprit was obvious.

"No!" Shouted James. "You've got the wrong guys!"

"I'll give you until the count of five!" Called the woman. "If you don't surrender by then, we'll take you down. Hard."

"Looks like they aren't listening," grumbled Francis. He glanced at his partner who gave a small nod.

"One."

"Listen Sarah," Hawkeye whispered into the girl's ear. "In a second, I'm going to toss you over to James. He'll catch you, but you'll have to hang on tight to him."

"Two."

"He's going to protect you. When he puts you down, you need to run away as fast as you can. Don't look back, even for a second. Understand?"

"Three."

The girl nodded, her features hardening adorably with determination. The two boys glanced at each other, waiting.

"Fou-"

The woman was cut off as the little girl was thrown through the air. Still spinning from the toss, Francis drew an arrow and fired, rolling behind cover before he could see the result. The clink of two arrows slamming into each other in midair signaled that he'd hit his mark and stopped the other archer's initial shot.

James reached out with his left arm to catch the girl and pull her tight against his body while his right swung his gun around. He let off two shots towards the woman as he rolled behind cover. In his peripheral vision he watched as she did the same.

"Dang, if only I had my shield," he muttered to himself.

"It couldn't be helped," said his partner from nearby. "It was supposed to be a stealth mission. The shield's handy in a fight, but it's too bulky for use in close quarters and it limits movement."

He went quiet as an arrow appeared in the space next to his head. Hawkeye rolled out from behind the car he had taken shelter behind to find another spot, unleashing an arrow of his own towards the unknown archer as he did so, which passed through the empty air as his target ducked. Just as he slid behind an upturned taxi, bullets rippled across its surface as the woman opened fire.

James sent the redhead diving out from behind the pickup she was using as a shield as he fired a bullet that tore through it like paper. Ducking behind a ruined wall as an arrow flew passed him, he spied a sewer lid that had been knocked up from the blast. He caught Hawkeye's eye and nodded towards it before glancing back at the woman. Francis nodded in conformation before loading two arrows onto his bow. Leaping out, he launched both perfectly, causing the assailants to duck behind cover.

Using the distraction, James ran out towards the lid. Flowing through the movements, he tossed his gun up into the air, swung Sarah into his right arm, and kicked up the lid. Catching it, he swung around a flung it towards the woman. Seeing the strike, she leapt into the air and out of its flight path. In mid leap, she heard the twanging of a bow. The world seemed to slow around her as she watched Francis's approaching arrow and knew that there was no way to dodge in midair.

A split second before it hit, another arrow appeared, slamming into it and lodging it into the ground.

"Keep your eyes open, Tasha!" Yelled her partner.

James cursed as he switched Sarah back to his left and caught his gun. "There goes that plan," he muttered before moving behind a wall.

Hawkeye had just pulled back behind the taxi when he heard a **thunk **turned to see an arrow lodged into the metal, beeping as it lit up with a red light. His eyes widened and he sprinted away just as the arrow exploded, knocking him from his feet and to the ground. He wasn't getting back up.**_  
_**

"Hawkeye!" Exclaimed James, causing the unknown archer to hesitate. James narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the situation. He quickly turned to the girl. "I'm going to have to let go of you for a second. Get on my back and wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist." She hurried to do as he said. He unholstered his second gun and took a deep breath.

He swung around the wall and opened fire as he sprinted across the open ground. The two assailants ducked down to avoid the rain of bullets. As he approached his comrade, he slid his left pistol back into its holster, continuing the movement of his hand to grab hold of Francis's limp form. Moving fast, he ran back behind a car that lay on its side, the roof facing outward.

He laid Hawkeye up against the car and tried to shake him awake. "Come on buddy, wake up!" He hesitated before deciding the situation was dire enough to use his trump card. He took a deep breath and yelled in Hawkeye's ear. "IT'S YOUR ANNIVERSARY AND LAURA WANTS HER PRESENT!"

Francis shot awake. "Where's the nearest meat market?!"

"Good to have you back my friend," said James with a grin. " I could really use the help."

Hawkeye rubbed his head with a groan. "What happened?"

"You were knocked out and I had to get you to safety. Unfortunately, now we're pinned down. We have to retreat and get out of here. Meat? For an anniversary present? Seriously?"

"It's Laura," he responded with a shug. James had to admit, he had a point. "And I don't think retreat is an option." Francis was staring straight behind them. James turned to follow his line of sight and stared at a brick wall, only a couple of yards behind them. They couldn't pull back, and their way forward was blocked by a pair of deadly assassins.

They were trapped.

"Guess we'll just have to make our stand here," said James, calm despite the circumstances. "Sarah, I need you to get down. Keep low, okay?" The girl nodded and laid down on the ground, squeezing her eyes shut tight and covering her head with her hands. The redhead glanced at his partner as he once again upholstered his left gun, checking to ensure both were fully loaded. His partner nodded. As one, the pair stood up and prepared to fire.

Only to be stopped by a shield.

It was an all too familiar shield that slammed into the car, causing the duo to dive to the sides to avoid getting nailed in the face. It was round with a red and white target board pattern, the bullseye a blue circle with a white star.

They followed its pathway as it moved with frightening accuracy into the hands of its master. It was a man with a dark blue helmet emblazoned with a white "A" that extended down to cover his nose, leaving the bottom half of his face bare. Sapphire blue eyes sparkled between the eyeholes. His outfit was dark blue and clung tightly to his body. Three silver stripes extended over his chest, intersecting with the silver star that sat in the center of his chest. Slightly baggy pants were tucked into black combat boots. His hands were covered in gloves that matched the boots.

Captain America had arrived.

The archer and the woman moved over to his side, watching the boys intently. "You're late Rogers," said the redhead calmly.

"I was eating lunch," he replied with a shrug.

"Wow, what an excuse! That totally makes up for it!" She rolled her eyes.

The Captain turned towards the boys. "So... You want to give up now?"

Francis surveyed all of them, his eyes lingering on the archer. If this was the original Captain America, then he had to be the original Hawkeye. He glanced to his partner who was flickering his gaze between the Captain and the redhead, most likely the Black Widow.

"Well now, this changes everything," he whispered to James. "I can honestly say that I have no idea what is going on here. What do you want to do?"

The boy was quiet before he answered back. "We don't know what's going on, so for now we watch and wait. We'll do the only thing we can do." The two shared a nod.

As one, they reached forward and let their weapons fall to the ground.

End Chapter

Ok so I want a popularity poll. WARNING: WINTER SOLDIER SPOILERS AHEAD! I want to know if anyone wants this pre-Winter Soldier so that S.H.I.E.L.D. is still around. Please review!


	3. The Avengers

Chapter 3: The Avengers

_"Wait! It's too dangerous! Don't go in there! Don't go!"_

Tony watched as the live feed went out. "No!" He cried as the two boys vanished. "Everyone, load up the Quinjet! We're moving out!" The old man who had once been known as Iron Man leapt up out of the massive leather chair that sat in the center of a circle of holographic monitors and served as a command center.

He sprinted through the halls that made up Avengers Tower, the new headquarters for the Avengers since Ultron had been defeated a year and a half before. They had turned the robot's fortress, the Citadel, into the Avengers' private home. Currently, Tony was cursing its incredible size as he traveled down the seemingly endless halls towards the hanger.

He passed through the metal sliding doors and onto the roof just as Toruun let off a massive _**boom** _as she broke the sound barrier as she flew off towards the location that the boys had begun their mission, Laura clutching her ankles. The old man leapt into the jet that was just beginning to levitate above the ground, Gwen and Griffin helping him inside.

The Quinjet had been repaired just like it had been before Ultron's security drones had blown it out of the sky on the outskirts of Ultra City. Its sleek black form flew through the air at incredible speeds, guided by Azari and Pym in the pilot seats. The two boys were tense as they moved towards the location, maxing out the jet's boosters. Even so, the girls had long since vanished from sight.

When the jet began to slow as the enemy base came in sight, all those present couldn't help but give a gulp.

_Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned _thought Tony as he stared at the wreckage left behind by the girls. Guards lay scattered about the yard, unmoving, and frankly most likely dead, with torn clothing and wreaked weapons. The building that the machine had been located in had a gaping hole in the roof, obviously the location Toruun had landed in. Cars were tipped on their sides, claw marks running across their surface and their tires had been busted open. Clearly Laura wasn't happy either.

Landing the jet, the group ran out and followed the girls inside. As they stepped into the hanger, they saw total devastation. Where the portal had stood there sat a pile of rubble, metal bending inwards. Tony's first glance told him that the portal had collapsed in on itself, most likely caused by it losing its power source when the doctor had gone through with the Tesseract. It had probably created a vacuum when it collapsed, transforming into a miniature black hole.

The scientists that had built the portal cowered on the ground as the two girls stepped forward, eyes blazing in fury. "What did you do?!" Screamed Toruun angrily. "Where are they?!"

"We don't know!" Came the squeaky reply from a woman. She had long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and glasses planted on her nose. A white lab coat hung over a green tee-shirt and old, paint stained jeans. "We just put it together! Each one of us had a specific job! We only built one part of it! Dr. Gordon was the only one who had the full schematics! We don't know where the portal was supposed to go!"

"Well you'd better figure it out now," replied Laura menacingly as she unsheathed her claws.

"Calm down!" Yelled Tony as he stepped between them and the scientists. "Attacking them won't get us anywhere! We'll just have to save the boys ourselves!"

"How?" Said Toruun angrily. "We have no idea where they went!"

"I said from the start that this mission was a bad idea," growled Laura.

"Oh really?" Said Griffin sarcastically. "It sure as heck sounded like it over the comm." Suddenly, everyone was arguing. It was obvious that they were all worried about their friends, but none of them knew what to do about it.

Reason came from the most expected place.

"ENOUGH!" Screamed Azari as lightning blasted from his body, silencing all of them as they turned to face him. "I get it, we're all worried, but arguing won't help anyone! Especially not Cap and Hawkeye. Right now, they don't need us panicking. They need us figuring out a plan to save them! So you can either stand there and yell until your throats bleed and we never find James or Francis, or we can calm down and figure out a plan to rescue them! Pick one."

Reluctantly, the others nodded, muttering apologies to each other.

"Good," said Azari, satisfied. "Besides, there's no need to worry. The two of them are too strong to get taken down by something like this. After all, how many times have any of us beaten either one of them in a one-on-one fight?"

None of them met his eyes.

"No one? Then I'll tell you. Never. Not once. The two people who haven't got any special powers beyond James's abnormal physique and Hawkeye's extreme vision have beaten each one of us every single time. Even though Griffin can freeze everything within twenty yards of her, even though Pym can transform into a giant, even though Gwen has near instant reflexes, even though I can shoot lightning, even though Laura can heal any wound instantaneously, and even though Toruun is a descendant of a warrior race and the daughter of a god, each and everyone of us have wound up flat on our backs every time."

He stared at each of them in turn. "Those two are the strongest of us all. No matter what happens, they can handle it. They'll be fine."

000000

"We're doomed."

"Thanks for the optimism," said James with a roll of his eyes as his partner paced the floor of the large cell they were in, eyes flickering to the door on the other side of the thick glass wall. The cell was circular, roughly fifteen yards in diameter and surrounded on four sides by glass walls, maybe eight inches thick.

"I'm being realistic here! In case you haven't realized, those were the Avengers! As in the Avengers, Avengers! You know, our-" Francis hesitated, realizing it might not be a good idea to reveal their identities to the cameras that their parents were definitely watching them through. "-uh, you know! The Avengers! I have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on! I'm having a mental breakdown over here!"

"I noticed," said James calmly as he smirked.

"How the heck can you be so calm right now! You're crazier than Ban- the Caveman!

"No, I'm not. I simply recognize that panic won't help anyone, especially not ourselves. We have to think clearly."

"Oh?" Said the archer sarcastically. "And what has that revealed, huh?"

"Do you remember what Gordon said back at the hanger? He said something about a space-time vortex stabilizing. That being said, what does that imply about the reason that the Avengers are here?"

Hawkeye paused as he processed that information before his eyes widened. "You mean-?"

James shook his head and placed a figure to his lips. "Yeah."

"But- But that's impossible!"

"Impossible? No. Improbable, maybe. But not impossible. It's the only explanation that makes any sense. And To- the Knight has already told us about people doing it before, so we know that it's possible. Maybe the Skull figured out how."

As much as Francis wanted to deny it, he had to accept the possibility. James was right, it was the only explanation that made any sense. It was just too unbelievable.

They had traveled back in time.

"This is huge," whispered Francis as he leaned back against the wall and slid to the ground. "Do you think we should tell them?" It was obvious who he was talking about.

James fixed him with a glare. "The last time I tried to go running to one of them I nearly got everyone I cared about killed. We'll handle this on our own."

Before Francis could reply, the metal door on the other side of the glass slid open. Several people stepped through, three of them the ones that they had met on the bridge, out of uniform. The one leading the way was a man in a suit with dark hair and a trimmed beard with a face they knew well. Tony Stark took a seat in a chair on the other side of the glass as a table rose up in front of him carrying a bottle of scotch and a couple glasses. Following him were the three from the bridge, Steve and Clint both in muscle shirts and jeans while Natasha wore a light brown jacket.

The next was a tall man with long blonde hair and a beard. A steel breastplate hung over his chest while dark leather pants sat tucked into his boots. The hammer he had strapped to his waist marked him as Thor.

After him was a small man with dark hair in a long sleeve shirt and dark pants. He seemed so out of place that if they hadn't recognized his face they would have wondered what he was doing there. Bruce Banner moved over to stand beside Thor off to the side.

Moving in after him was a large, scowling man with thick sideburns. A white muscle shirt sat beneath a bikers jacket and touched the tops of his worn out jeans. A pair of combat boots sat snuggly on his feet. His black hair was combed up at the back to look like ears. The scowl alone let them know that his was Laura's dad, Logan, more commonly known as Wolverine.

Finishing up their little group was a teenager, surprisingly. He had messy, dark brown hair and a blue tee-shirt hanging over some jeans. His old tennis shoes made little noise as he walked across the floor. Peter Parker was somewhat unimpressive, despite his alter-ego's reputation as Spiderman.

Tony waited until the boys allowed their gazes to settle back on him. "Want a drink?" He offered as he lifted the scotch. "Oh wait, I guess you're under aged. That would cause some awkwardness now wouldn't it?"

He paused to stare at them. "You know, normally we just toss the bad guys into a police truck and then go to a strip club while we wait for them to break out again, or at least I do, but you two have caught our interests. Do you know why?"

"Does it have to do with our devilishly good looks?" asked Francis sarcastically before glancing at James. "Or at least mine?" James glared at him.

"I like him," said Tony as he turned to the others leaning against the wall. "But no, it doesn't. There are three reasons. One: neither one of you show up in any database on the planet. There are no facial records, no fingerprints, no DNA, which means one of two things. One: You two don't exist which obviously isn't true-" The boys glanced at each other. "-or two: you've got some friends out there who are powerful enough to make it seem like you don't. The second reason you've caught our eye is Ariel's weapons. Those pistols of yours seem pretty ordinary at first glance, but pick 'um up and it's a whole different story. Most people can't even lift them, much less fire them. You, however, went one handed in each arm. The only ones out of all of us who could that are Thor and Cap here. So that means that either you do a heck of a lot of push ups or you're like them. For some reason, I doubt that you're going to start saying that you're the god of thunder anytime soon, so that leaves the super soldier."

He paused to watch James's reaction, which bore no fruit seeing as the boy remained expressionless. "The final reason is that when Snow White over here hit the ground, you called him 'Hawkeye'. Care to explain?"

"It's a nickname," replied the redhead. "If I need to say why then I guess you aren't the genius everyone makes you out to be."

"Oh I understand why, I simply want to know why you picked that particular name. I'm pretty sure that we could sue you for plagiarism if you weren't in, you know, prison."

"What Boy Scout trying to earn his archery badge doesn't want to be called that?" Asked Francis.

Tony stared at them both quietly before responding. "For some reason, I don't think you learned in the Boy Scouts." He took a swig from his glass. "You know, I think we're going to be here a long time, so why don't we get some names out of you? That is, unless you prefer to be named after Disney princesses?"

James watched him silently as he considered how to answer before a memory hit him. He thought of names that would serve them well for the time being.

"I'm called the Soldier, and this is the Archer."

End of Chapter

Ok, so this is officially POST- WINTER SOLDIER! Please review


	4. Plans

Chapter 4: Plans

Elder Tony sat in the control room, staring at the monitors. His chair sat atop a pillar, surrounded by several holographic screens. It had once been the same room from which Ultron had controlled and monitored his empire. He stared at the feed from the boys last moments as the doors opened behind him to admit his wards.

"What have you found out?" Asked Gwen as they moved forward.

"According to Fiona Hardings, the doctor Toruun and Laura... Interviewed, this is the basic purpose for the machine." With the press of a button, a blue hologram appeared showing a small tunnel with wide ends and a narrow center. "It's a space-time tunnel that creates a bridge through the time stream. Basically, it's a time machine. However, it's not for this time stream."

"What does that mean?" Asked Griffin as she tilted her head.

"There are an infinite number of time streams," he replied as he pressed another button. The tunnel vanished only to be replaced by a large line. "Let's say that this line is our time stream. For every choice we make, a separate time stream is formed in which we made a different choice." With another press, they watched as a new line split off from the first, before doing it again, constantly replicating until there was a massive tangle surrounding the original. "When the boys traveled back, the time stream instantly branched off as a fail-safe so as to not harm this one, which is why no one remembers them appearing in history."

He paused as Pym spoke. "Why would it do that?"

"Because it would fundamentally alter the time stream. Let's say someone traveled ten years back in time to prevent a certain event from happening. Then, when ten years pass and it reaches the point in time where that person goes back in time, the event wouldn't have occurred and therefore they would have no reason to travel back and stop it. Because they didn't go back, they didn't change it and therefore the original future would once again occur. Time would be thrown into an endless loop, perpetually repeating the same two sets of events. The branching effect is the time stream's response to ensure that this doesn't happen. I suppose saying that the boys were transported to an alternate dimension which was further back in time would be a less complicated way of saying it."

"So how can we get them back?" Wondered Toruun aloud as she stared at the endless web that represented the time stream.

Tony was quiet as he pressed another button, causing two holograms to appear side by side. One was of the machine when it had been at full operation while the other was the blueprints that had been put together using the information provided by the scientists. The blueprints were incomplete.

"There is a problem," informed the old man. "Each of the doctors that had been enlisted to create the machine was only given one job, each one creating a small part that would eventually be put together and form the tunnel, like a puzzle. However, some parts of the machine were created by doctor Gordon, as well as several others who mysteriously vanished shortly after they finished their jobs. In other words, we don't have the complete schematics. Unless the machine was built to the EXACT specifications as the original, we won't arrive in the same dimension as the boys. We'll have to try and replicate the machinery with what we have and hope we get it right. Given enough time, I could probably figure it out on my own. Unfortunately, we don't have that long and with the boys' safety on the line, I'd like a second opinion."

"So what's the plan Geezer?" Asked Laura impatiently.

The old man smiled at her before he replied. "First thing's first, Torrun, Thor told you that the Bifrost was open to you now right?" She nodded. "Good. Then I need you to travel to Asgard and inform Thor that he may be missing something from his treasure room. Also, see if he can't find another power source for the device. It has to be something on par with the Tesseract or else it may not work."

She nodded before taking off out the door.

"The rest of you are on locator duty. We need to find three people who may be able to help us out. First off, Azari and Laura. You two head to Wakanda and speak with Queen Ororo. Ask her if she knows if doctor Henry McCoy is still alive and wether or not she knows of his whereabouts. If so, find him and bring him here. Pym, Griffin, it's time to see your dad and hopefully your uncle as well. Johnny Storm is currently in San Francisco, I want you to find him. Hopefully he knows where to find your uncle, Reed Richards. Gwen, I'm afraid you have the hardest job. You're going to try and find our old friend Bruce Banner. I, unfortunately, have absolutely no idea where he is so you're going to have your work cut out for you. I'm going to start working on piecing together the machine with my new best friend, doctor Hardings. Good luck."

000000

"Seriously? The Soldier? The Archer? You're kidding, right?" Chuckled Stark as he looked at them.

"I've been told I'm not very original," confessed James sheepishly.

"You can say that again," grumbled Francis with a hard look at his companion.

"Well, it doesn't really matter what you call yourselves I guess," said Tony, still chuckling. "Let's get passed all the lame introductions before 'the Soldier' here lets everyone know he's even more stupid. I suppose you're wondering why we're all here, seeing as we all kind of went out separate ways after the freak-shows from outer space blew out several blocks of Manhattan. Speaking of which, neither Loki nor Hulk apologized for tearing my building apart. I think I'm entitled to that at least!"

"Stark," said Steve with a glance.

"Right, right, off topic," the billionaire grumbled. "Well, recent events have led me to... Rethink that decision, what with S.H.I.E.L.D. really being Hydra and nearly taking over the world, and a race of ancient Dark Elves nearly wiping out all of existence. Thanks to Cap and Thor here for stopping said disasters. See, I realized that our information network needed to be updated. Take the Hydra thing, if Cap had called me in I could have suited up and the two of us could have taken them down with half the trouble and it wouldn't have been such a close call. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should come running back to each other for every little thing. I mean, if I called Thor every time someone tried to steal my tech and build a robot army we'd be having a legion of garden gnomes leveling London!"

"Garden gnomes?" Inquired Francis with a smirk.

"They can't be trusted," replied Iron Man with a serious look. "My point is, global threats are kind of an everyday thing for all of us. We can't come running to fight every battle together or we'll have a thousand and one other threats to try and take on all at once, but we can at least make sure we all know about them. I tried to reform the Avengers as an information network, that way then we can still face all the threats individually, but we won't have any problems getting together to deal with all the huge stuff."

"Impressive," said James as he studied the man. He felt a sense of respect for the man, so unlike the Tony that his godfather had described himself as.

That all crumbled with his next statement. "Well, that's really only a small part of it. The real reason I did this was so that I'd have an excuse to see Black Widow in a skin-tight outfit. Come on, you fought her right? What do you think, Red? Smokin', huh?"

Francis suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter. Clutching his stomach, he peered at James through watery eyes as he spoke. "D-D-Dude! H-he j-just asked you i-if you t-thought t-th-that y-your m-"

"I'm well aware of what he just asked," interrupted the super soldier as he tensed, his cheeks going red. The white-haired boy collapsed onto the ground, rolling as he tried to gasp for breath.

The adults stared at them in unmasked confusion. "Okay then," said Clint uncertainly. "I think it's safe to say that they've completely lost it."

"Yeah well, I suppose that reaction must confuse you seeing as she's your girlfriend and all," commented Tony with a shrug.

Francis choked as James swung his gaze around to stare hard at them. "What did you just say?!" Asked the redhead.

"Um, that she's his girlfriend?" Said Tony, suddenly uncertain.

Francis moved to his feet and hurried to the glass. "She's his girlfriend? As in you-" he pointed at Natasha, "-and you." He swung his fingers around to point at Clint.

"Uh-huh," replied Clint as the entire group moved forward. For some reason, this whole couple thing really seemed to get to the boys.

The two turned to each other with wide eyes. "Oh boy, things just got VERY complicated," muttered James. If Natasha wasn't with Steve, then who was James's father? And for that matter, was Francis's mom the Black Widow? Did that make them brothers? Did they even exist?

These thoughts flowed through their minds as Francis whispered quietly. "We are not in Kansas anymore."

Tony opened his mouth to say something when red light began to flash and a siren blared loudly. A voice from nowhere spoke up as a screen appeared in the air in front of Stark. "Sir, we have a problem. Someone has broken into a schematic archive at one of our other facilities. They are downloading information at an alarming rate. The intruder also seems to be hacking into our mainframe. Also, someone has remotely hacked into your private files and begun coping and downloading information on several of your armor sets as well as some of your other projects. I'm beginning a lockout now, however the hacker has already gathered incredible amounts of data. They will most likely be able to duplicate your armor."

"You stop him. Romanoff, I need you to remotely isolate the intruder to keep him from getting anything too serious. Jarvis, plant a tracer on our hacker. I'm suiting up to deal with this guy."

"Sir, I have eyes on our intruder," said the disembodied voice as Stark turned, causing him to pause.

"Put it up," he said. A screen appeared in midair, showing a large, dark room at a point of view in the corner to the right of the entrance. At the far end sat a large computer, data flashing across the screen as it was downloaded in a small flash drive that had been hooked up to it. Standing calmly in the center of the room was a familiar, darkly dressed figure with a black mask covering his face.

"The Black Skull," mutter James as he watched the screen, which meant that the hacker was most likely Gordon. "Hey! Let us out! We can help you catch him!"

That caught their attention. "Why should we trust you?" Asked Clint as he cocked an eyebrow.

James met his gaze. "You have questions, so do we. That guy has all the answers. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. He is definitely our enemy."

Francis had ignored the exchange, watching the information flicker across the screen as the Black Widow tried her hardest to stop the download. A sudden flash caused his eyes to widen. "STOP!" He yelled, drawing all of their gazes. "Go back! I just saw something!"

Natasha hesitated, wondering if she should continue or do as the boy asked. Steve silently watched the boys, thinking hard, before he turned to Natasha and gave a small nod. Slowly, she began going back through, showing all of the information that had all ready been taken.

Francis watched it with hard eyes, praying that he was wrong. That is, until an image appeared. "Stop! That's it, there."

As James stared at the image, his eyes widened and his blood went cold. Slowly, he stepped back and slid slowly to the ground, horror settling in his bones. "Oh no," he whispered before raising his voice to address them all. "That's it. That's what they're after. Everything else is just a distraction to throw you off the trail."

Steve moved forward slowly, his eyes on the redhead. He felt the others doing the same, all of their attention focused on the pair. "What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Because that's all he needs," came the simple reply.

Steve turned his attention to the image. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary blueprint. "What are we looking at here Tony?" He asked as he gave it a more thorough study.

Tony hesitated. "It's just an assistance android that I've been working on jointly with doctor Henry Pym. It's like a robot servant for the disabled. They can run to the store or reach up to high shelves or push wheelchairs. It's just meant to make life a little easier. It's not dangerous. Granted, I was working on a variant for police assistance that was equipped with some basic Iron Man gear. Any one of us would be able to take it down, but it would be more than enough to stop your regular bank robbery. I thought it would decrease police death rates."

"Is that all?" Asked Steve as he stared hard at him.

Tony hesitated once more. "Well, I was working on a more improved version. I mean, eventually we're all going to settle down and try to start families of our own. I figured that it could pick up the slack, seeing as it would be kind of hard to fight with a kid and all. But I didn't want that data falling into the wrong hands so I locked it up in-" He froze before whipping around to stare at the screen, his face going pale. "Oh no."

"'Oh no'?" Asked Clint. "What do you mean 'oh no'?!"

"I wanted to keep it secure so I tried to keep it locked up in my private files."

"You mean the ones that just got hacked?!" Screamed Clint angrily.

"Yes, those ones. If he takes those designs, he could turn that little helper into a doomsday weapon. One as dangerous as Project Insight, at the very least."

Steve made a call. He turned and pressed on a button at the edge of the cell. "Suit up. Barton, get these two their weapons." He turned to them. "You say you're the good guys? Then prove it. Like it or not, we need all the help we can get. Are you in?" They met his gaze firmly and nodded. "Good." With that he turned and began hurrying out the door, calling to Tony as he went. "So does this doomsday weapon have a name?"

"Pym has some big, long name for it that I don't care to remember. I prefer to just call it Ultron."

End Chapter.

HAPPY EASTER! REVIEW!


	5. Forging Bonds

Chapter 5: Forging Bonds

Tony and Hardings moved about, attempting to reconstruct the machine with the help of several assistants and other scientists that had been liberated from the compound. With the help of Stark's abundant resources they were already halfway to the end of their available schematics.

They had assembled it in a circular room inside of the recently reconstructed Stark Tower. Bright lighting surround them giving them a clear view of everything that occurred within. The metal skeleton of the machine sat in the very center, constantly growing as more work was completed. Tables filled with tech and tools were placed within easy reach of the workers. If Tony wasn't so desperate, he would have said that everything was going well. As it was, every minute that passed seemed like an eternity as he worked.

"Maybe it'll help if we reconfigure the flux vortex to lock onto the Tesseract's energy signature," suggested Hardings. "Since Gordon took it with him, whatever timeline they ended up in will have two of them. That should make things easier on us."

"That could work," replied Tony. "But if something similar happened in some other day and age we would find ourselves back at square one. I'd rather not take that risk when we have so little time."

She shrugged as a set of doors slid open to allow Toruun to pass through. Tony looked at her. "What did you find out?"

She looked at him with poorly concealed wonder and excitement. "A lot. But I'll let dad tell you."

A second later, the doors slid open once more and a giant walked walked through into the room. His head was the birthplace of a head of long, flowing gold hair and a massive beard. Kind blue eyes twinkled on a battle scarred face. Tony could never forget that face. Outside of the massive beard, Thor hadn't changed one bit. Even his clothes had remained, his hammer swinging at his side.

Toruun had never looked more like an Asgardian than when she stood beside her father. Blue cloth cover his legs and torso while golden armor incased her around her waist, wrists, legs, and torso. A golden winged helmet sat snugly on her head while a crimson cape swirled behind her. The handle of her sword peeked over her shoulder.

Tony stared in wonderment at his old friend. "Thor! What are you doing here?"

"My old friend," said the Asgardian King as he moved forward to trap his old friend in a bone crushing hug. "I heard that mischief was afoot and came to lend my aid."

"Thank you. What we really need is a power source. Do you have anything on par with the Tesseract?"

Thor turned serious. "I'm afraid that I have discovered yet more mischief. Behold, the Tesseract." With that, he reached into his cape and produced a small black wooden box. Flipping open the lid, they were suddenly illuminated by blue light radiating from a small cube.

Tony stared at it flabbergasted. "B-but that isn't possible! I know what I saw! Even the energy readings we discovered said that it was the real deal! There are two Tesseracts?"

"I do not know, old friend. I fear there is something sinister afoot. I have tasked Heimdall with scouring the nine realms for any sign of your wards but I fear it shall come to naught."

Hardings stepped forward. "Hey Stark, remember what we were talking about earlier? About there being two Tesseracts wherever they went? Maybe something like that happened with them. Maybe this isn't the first time those two have time traveled."

Tony considered the possibility. "I don't know. I don't really see what there is here worth coming back in time for, but we should consider the possibility. And I doubt that they could break into Asgard's vault in any era, present or in the future." He turned back to the hulking Asgarding. "Thank you for bring us this information. Thank you for your help."

Thor smiled. "Anything for you, old friend. Midgard needs the Avengers. If you seek aid, you need but ask. Besides-" he smirked and glanced at Toruun. "I can't just leave my future son to his fate, now can I?"

"DAD!" She yelled as she turned bright red.

000000

The Quinjet flew quietly through the air as the land passed by beneath them. It was different from the ship that James and Francis were accustomed to. The one they used was sleek and black. This one was more squat and square. Its red and white paint job was well done with the iconic Avengers' 'A'standing proudly on the wall outside.

Inside sat the boys, along with Steve, Clint, and Natasha. Tony had flown ahead since his armor was faster than the jet. The other Avengers had remained behind on standby. Clint and Natasha sat in the pilot seats while Steve leaned against the their chairs and regarded the boys near the back.

"They know more than they're telling," said the blonde quietly.

"What was your first clue?" Returned Hawkeye sarcastically.

"Simmer down boys," smirk Natasha. "Wether they are or not, it doesn't matter if they won't tell us. I could probably get the information out of them but I doubt you'd like my methods, Steve."

"Let's just try talking to them first," replied the super soldier. "If we can get them to trust us, maybe they'd be more willing to talk."

"What do you propose?"

Steve turned to face the boys. "Hey, Archer!" He called, causing Francis to look up. "Do you know how to fly a plane?" He nodded. "Good. Black Widow needs to stretch out before we get there. Take over for her." He turned back to his friends. "Find some common ground, try to relate to them." With that, he turned and walked into the back room.

As Francis stood, he glanced over at James and saw him staring at something in his lap with a sad smile. Glancing down at the redhead's lap, he felt a small smile creeping up on him. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before continuing on towards the pilots. Natasha handed him the headset and moved back. Getting down on the ground, she began her stretches, sending a glance towards James. As she noticed his actions, she frowned.

Moving silently, she stood and crept up behind him. Reaching over his shoulder, her hand flashed out and grasped a slip of paper before pulling back. "What do we have here?" She asked as she gazed down at it and James jumped to his feet.

"Give that back!" He said angrily. Natasha stared down at the paper and couldn't help but smile. It was a photograph of two people. The first was obviously James in civilian clothes. He wore a grey tee-shirt and jeans with a pair of running shoes. Sitting on top of his head was an old, worn down Dodger's hat with its bill lifted to reveal his smiling face. Leaning against him with her arms wrapped around him was a girl. She had long golden hair braided down her back and sparkling blue eyes. She wore a sky blue tank top, jeans with holes at the knees, and purple flip flops that hung lightly on her feet. The expression on her face told Natasha that the moment the picture was taken was one of the happiest in that girl's life, and she had a feeling that a kiss was just beyond the frozen time.

Slowly, she allowed the boy to pull the photo from her grasp. "Is that your girlfriend?" He blushed and looked away, but never the less nodded. "She's very pretty. What's her name?"

James hesitated before replying. "Toruun."

"Interesting name. What's she like?"

His expression turned wistful. "She's the most amazing person I've ever met. She's so kind and strong. Arrogantly proud, but that's because she has such a strong will. She's the most important thing to me in my life."

Natasha smiled at the sheer heartwarming corniness of his statement. "You must be very lucky. I'm sure your parents are proud."

He blinked and swung his gaze around to stare at her. Licking his lips, he spoke. "Well, I guess I wouldn't know. I-if you were my mom, would you be?"

She tilted her head, puzzled by the question. "If I was your mother? Definitely. You seem like the kind of kid I would boast about to my friends about every day." He turned away to try and hide the proud smile that was threatening to burst forth upon his face. Natasha smiled once again. "So where is she?" She gestured towards the photo.

His expression fell. "Home. I'll see her if- when I get back."

She chose not to comment on his statement. "You know, you remind me of someone. It's just something about you, you know a feeling. There's something about the way you look and move that just screams 'Steve'."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you." The pair turned around to face Steve as he smiled at them. "It isn't just the hair either. It's the way you both hold yourselves, it's like a wildcat. So relaxed and aloof, yet oh so dangerous. I don't feel like either one of you could harm anyone. You just have that harmless aura around you that makes me want to drop my guard. If I didn't know you, I probably would, up until the point you put a bullet in my head."

"Awww, how sweet!" Said Natasha with a smile. "Hey Steve, check out this picture! The kid here's got a girlfriend! She's way prettier than any of those girl that I was trying to hook you up with, and he did it solo. What does that say about you?"

"It says that I don't have time for a relationships and that I don't want the ones involved getting hurt. Not all of us can have a beautiful assassin girlfriend that just happens to be a coworker. We can't all be as lucky as Clint." The three of them froze, James glancing between the two of them as the full meaning of the words hit them all.

"Steve, are you... Jealous?" Asked the Black Widow in shock.

"I-uh, n-no! I-" Steve was saved from more potential embarrassment by laughter suddenly erupting loudly from the front. They all turned to see the two archers gasping for breath as Clint wiped away a small tear.

"Man, that is too funny!" Chuckled Clint. "I've heard of people making all sorts of explosives but one that tosses marinara sauce everywhere is a new one!"

"Yeah well, needless to say, Azari was not very happy with me after he tried to grab some late-night ice cream," said Francis as he continued his story.

"How are things going up here?" Asked Steve, extremely glad for the change of subject.

Clint turned to face him. "We'll be landing in roughly a minute. You guys just missed one Hell of a story. I love this kid! You need to hang around here more often, Franky my boy!"

"Be glad to." Francis consciously avoided James's eyes, knowing he was going to suffer later for revealing so much. At least he hadn't let it slip just who they were. Yet.

"The facility will be coming into view in three. Two. One." No sooner had Clint finished speaking did they pass a rise and found themselves gazing at one of Stark Enterprise's many branches around the world.

Or at least what was left of it.

Where a great building had once stood now sat a burning pile of rubble. Explosions still rocked the area, raining debris everywhere. People ran about, trying to evacuate before they lost all chance to escape. Iron Man was nowhere to be seen.

The group within the Quinjet stared in horror at the devastation. "I think we may have a problem," commented Clint.

End of Chapter


	6. Into the Ruins

Chapter 6: Into the Ruins

Azari and Laura listened as the massive doors into the great throne room of Wakanda rumbled open. Stepping through, the pair emerged into a massive hallway. Pillars carved like panthers paired off periodically along the marble pathway. Torches illuminated the room in sconces along the walls behind the statues and braziers sat between the carving's paws. At the far end sat a dais carved from amber. A great throne, once again carved into the likeness of the black wildcat, sat proudly atop it. At the foot of the chair were two more of the beasts, though these ones were flesh and blood.

Resting regally in the throne was an African woman with long white hair. Golden looped earrings hung from her lobs, while matching bracelets jangled on her wrists. A dress of black silk flowed around her, rippling with her movements. Beneath its hem, her bare feet rested against the floor. Kind blue eyes watched Azari lovingly as Queen Ororo of Wakanda stood to greet her son.

"Azari! It is good to see you, my child. Although I am not happy such a thing this is a special occasion." She stared into his eyes with mock anger until he blushed and looked away.

"Sorry mom. I promise that I'll visit more. But we've got bigger problems." He turned back to face her. "James and Hawkeye have disappeared and we need to find them. Tony said that doctor McCoy could help us."

"The fur ball?" Asked a voice from behind them. Laura stiffened as Azari whirled around to face the newcomer, glancing nervously towards his companion after verifying that the speaker was who he thought. The Wakandan found himself staring at a man in a leather motorcycle jacket and jeans that sat on top of a pair of black combat boots. He had thick sideburns and horned hair, styled like wolf ears. His well-built form and scowling features were enough to terrify anyone, though Laura was far from cowed.

"Hello Logan," said Storm calmly, if a tad annoyed. "I thought I told you to wait in the other room. I have guests."

"Don't screw with me Ororo. I could smell my daughter from halfway across the city. I think I have a right to say hello."

"The last time you tried that the two of you got into a fight that wrecked half of Avenger's Tower," muttered the Queen and Azari grimaced at the memory.

"Hey dad," growled Laura as she shot him a glare. He merely nodded his acceptance of her rage.

"How're you doing, kid?"

"I'm doing fine, no thanks to you," she snarled. "Actually, I should rephrase that. I WAS doing well until you walked in the room. What do you want anyways?"

"I'm not allowed to say 'hey' to my own daughter?"

"Oh right, because you tried doing that SO many times in the last EIGHTEEN YEARS! Well now you've said it, so leave!"

Logan regarded her quietly, his face giving no hint as to his thoughts. She had no way of knowing just how much her words wounded him, how much regret he had already suffered over the years. Eventually, he spoke. "Well, I just figured you might want to know where Hank is."

"You know?" Asked Azari hopefully, glad at the interruption.

Wolverine nodded. "He headed to Japan to help them develop weapons and defenses during the war. Now that reconstruction is just about done, he figured he'd come down here to say hello and figure out what to do next. He should be here day after tomorrow."

"That's great!" exclaimed Azari happily, elated that something was going right. "In that case, we'll stay here until he arrives. I guess that gives us some time to hang out." He turned to his mother and grinned, a gesture in which she was happy to return.

Laura glared at him before storming towards the door. Logan closed his eyes as she passed him and let out a small sigh of sadness. Then, his super hearing caught two words. Two simple words that made his eyes shoot open and have him spin around to watch as the door slammed closed behind her. He felt a smile tug at the edge of his mouth.

"Thanks dad."

000000

Clint maneuvered the jet into an open space, clear of the debris. They quickly moved out and assessed the situation. In front of them towered the burning wreckage. It reminded them all of the Great Sphinx with its little arms branching out to close in on them from all sides. A small pathway was formed directly in front of them, leading into the rubble. Around them ran people little panicked ants, while screaming could still be heard further in.

Steve opened his mouth to issue orders, but James beat him to it. "Our priority should be evacuating the civilians. Cap and I are on that since we have the strength. Hawkeye and Archer, you two have the vision. Get to higher ground and scope things out. Tell us where we can find more trapped people. See if can't get eyes on Iron Man as well. Black Widow, you head deeper into the building. Try and see if Tony went further in and hopefully found the intruder."

The others blinked at him, except Francis who nodded and turned to move before realizing no one else was. James blinked and felt his face heat up. He realized that it wasn't his place to be giving anyone orders, especially not these people. "Sorry, I mean-"

"What are you all standing around for, you heard the man!" Interrupted Steve as he smiled. It was a sound plan that made a lot of sense, no matter who it came from. "Let's move!" He turned and began sprinting towards the people attempting to flee, followed closely by the others. The two super soldiers swerved towards a small pathway in wreckage that several people were trying to force their way through. Each grabbing a side, they strained themselves and pulled the fallen concrete apart, enlarging the gap.

The archers hurried up the mountain of crushed stone, scampering like mountain goats, Clint muttering something about Tony's stupidly humungous structure. Natasha had already vanished into the wreckage, disappearing deeper into the fallen building.

As the pair of super soldiers rescued another group of workers, they heard Widow's voice over the communicator. "I've found Stark. I think you all should get down here. It isn't very pretty."

Sharing a look, the pair raced off into the wreckage, heading towards the location the message had been received from. They wove their way through a maze of stone and fire to emerge out into an opening that revealed the clear sky to them, like the eye of a storm. Standing together were their comrades, both Hawkeyes crouched upon the ground and tugging at something while Natasha watched them. The thing that the males were tugging at was the wreaked suit of Iron Man, sparking and flickering with dying light. Gashes and massive bullet holes had ripped apart the machine, tearing it apart.

Steve hurried forward and pushed the archers out of the way. He wrapped his hands around the metal mask and strained his muscles, grunting as he tore the mask away and revealed Tony's grimy face. The billionaire gasped for breath now that his access to fresh air was no longer hindered. Tony groaned. "Did anyone catch the license plate on that space shuttle?"

"I thought that was your job," replied Clint with a grin. "Unless you want to count getting your butt kicked, of course."

James was about to laugh when a motion in his peripheral vision caught his attention. A familiar silhouette rushed off into the ruins. Without a word, James sprinted after the Black Skull, leaving the others to blink in surprise. He ignored their shouts telling him to wait and charged into the rubble, following his foe and leaving the others far behind him.

His path lead him to an old car port, somehow still standing beneath the building. A tunnel lead off into the darkness across the parking lot from James. Running towards it was the Black Skull.

Without hesitation, James yanked out his guns and opened fired. The Skull used his momentum to leap diagonally to the right and out of the line of fire, pulling a pistol of his own from his belt. He turned as he opened fire, causing James to dive out of the way.

When the boy rolled to his feet, he looked up just in time to see the dark clad figure appear in front of him with miraculous speed. His eyes widened as the man shot his right fist forward, aiming for the boy's head. That was when James noticed something strange. He knew that the man was moving at the same speed as when they had last fought, but he somehow seemed slower. It was like James could read his movements, anticipate where his strike would land. He could tell exactly what was coming and he knew just how to stop it.

James swung his left arm around, diverting the Skull's blow so that it passed harmlessly in front of James's face. Stepping inward, the boy launched his fist into the man's gut, shoving him away. The Skull slid along the ground, clutching at the wound. James swung his left pistol around, firing at the man. Without warning, the villain yanked his sword from its sheath and sliced the bullet in mid air. As James blinked in shock, the man lifted his pistol and fired into James's abdomen.

James hissed in pain, refusing to scream in an act of sheer will as he collapsed to his knees and clutched at his abdomen which was pouring crimson liquid. Instantly, the villain was pulling the boy's weapons from him and tossing them out of reach. The Black Skull sighed in contentment as he gazed down at the boy. Suddenly, a rumble emerged from him, growing and growing until was roaring with mad laughter.

"Amazing!" He yelled excitedly. "To think that after just one fight you'd be able to actually wound me! You've managed to learn my fighting style and predict my movements so quickly, and should we meet again, I'm sure you'll be able to subconsciously predict my reactions from watching me dodge your attacks. In our next fight you might prove to be a match for me! Brilliant! You, my young Captain, are truly a Prodigy of Combat, a Lord of War, a Born Killer!" The Black Skull erupted once more into mad laughter before going eerily silent. "If only we weren't enemies. Together, not even the Avengers could stand in our way."

James winced in pain as he spoke, gasping for breath as he did so. "I'd never work with you. We've stopped Ultron once, and we'll do it again! You won't conquer the earth, not as long as the Avengers are around."

The Skull sighed and shook his head. "You know, that's the problem with you Avengers. You all think too small. You have no vision, no imagination. I'm trying to build the pinnacle of weaponry, of ultimate power. What's the point of building a weapon if not to use it to conquer everything? The earth is merely meant to complete a collection. I don't care for its pitiful might which has already been bested once, or at least will be bested. I intend to use it to intimidate all into serving me. In order to do that I must first display its destructive power for all to see! And what's the best way to do that?" He paused to stare at the boy, as though hoping James would have the answer. When none came, the man gave his response in a whisper that echoed around them.

"By using it to destroying that which is known by all to be the most powerful."

Even though James couldn't see his face, he could practically feel the man's twisted grin. The redhead stared at him in shock. "You're insane," the boy concluded.

The villain shrugged. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm a visionary. Only history will tell. Until next time, Captain." With that, the man turned and sprinted down the tunnel, leaving James to await the arrival of the others.


End file.
